Spain, Italy demand EU virus help; New Yorkers avoid travel

Spain and Italy demanded more European help as they fight
still-surging coronavirus infections amid the continent’s worst crisis since
World War II.

In the US, authorities urged millions in the hard-hit New
York City region to stop traveling to keep the virus contained.

From Milan to Madrid to Michigan, medics are making tough
choices about which patients to save with the limited breathing machines they
have. The confirmed global death surpassed 30,000 and new virus epicenters
emerged in key U.S. Cities like Detroit, New Orleans and Chicago. Even rural
American has not been immune, as virus hotspots erupt in Midwestern towns and
in Rocky Mountain ski havens.

Spain and Italy alone account for more than half of the
world’s death toll and are still seeing over 800 deaths a day each.

Experts say, however, that virus toll numbers across the
world are being seriously under-represented due to limited testing and
political decisions about which bodies are being counted. Unlike the U.S.,
France still does not count deaths that take place in nursing homes or in homes
among its virus numbers — even though nursing homes are known to be a key
coronavirus hotspot around the world.

‘’Europe must demonstrate that it is able to respond to this
historic call,’’ Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said late Saturday.

The crisis “involves all of the economic and social
systems of the member states,” he said. “I will fight until the last drop of
sweat, until the last gram of energy, to obtain a strong, vigorous, cohesive
European response.”

President Donald Trump backtracked on a threat to
quarantine New York and neighboring states amid criticism and questions about
the legality of such a move. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
issued a travel advisory urging all residents of New York City and others in
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to avoid all non-essential travel for 14
days.

Shocking as that is for Americans, that stopped short of
the restrictions imposed in Europe or elsewhere. Parisians are fined if they
try to leave the city and South Africans can’t even walk their dog or buy
liquor. In Italy, coffins are piling up despite three weeks of strict
confinement and burials are being held with only one family member.